Special to The Dallas Examiner
The city of Dallas has reopened applications for the Small Business Continuity Fund grant program. The program was designed to assist small businesses with revenue under $1.5 million that create or retain one or more full time low-to-moderate income jobs.
Eligible businesses must be located within the city of Dallas, demonstrate a 25% loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic since March 2020 and were operating prior to Sept. 1, 2019. The maximum grant size is $15,000 and is sized on three months of business revenue or expenses.
Eligibility applications will be accepted via the City of Dallas Office of Economic Development’s website, and will be accepted from Feb. 3 through Feb. 10. All eligible applications will then be entered into a lottery to generate a ranked list of businesses that will be invited to submit a complete application.
“The city of Dallas is pleased to offer this funding to our Dallas small businesses,” said Dr. Eric Anthony Johnson, chief of Economic Development and Neighborhood Services. “In Round One, grants were awarded in every council district and 95% of these grants are going to neighborhood businesses with revenue of less than a million dollars. Continuing the program offers ongoing support of these small businesses that keep our neighborhoods strong and vibrant.”
This will the second round of applications accepted for the SBCF program. The first round accepted applications in May, and to date, over 400 grants totaling $4 million have been awarded. Just under $3 million remains to be awarded, and approximately 200 grants will be awarded under this application cycle.
With a loan and a grant component, the SBCF, a partnership between the OED, the Dallas Development Fund and National Development Council, has awarded funding to more than 430 Dallas small businesses impacted by COVID-19. Since July of this year, the SBCF program has funded 411 grants, totaling more than $3.9 million in grant funding.
An additional 21 loans have been approved, totaling $615,900, bringing the overall amount of approved funding under the SBCF program to $4.5 million. Funding for the program comes from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, both from Community Development Block Grant funding and Coronavirus Relief Fund funding.